Thread: Rover V8 direction of rotation

Originally Posted by kiwirich

As a random Idea .....
It looks like the Diff is mounted at the Front ( Citroen ?), Can you mount the Rover Motor backwards ?
Obviously you'd still have to cool it etc but maybe ?

Kiwirich

I think the motor would be too big. The car was originally designed to have an air cooled flat 6 mounted infront of the axle as you suggest. Citroen went bankrupt (again ) before they could get the motor reliable enough, so the old cast iron 4banger installed behind the axle (weirdly if you look, they are actually mid engined as the motor is between the axles).

There is always possibilities. Most are expensive. Citroen owned Maserati at the time so a mirror image of this gearbox was used in the Maserati Merak (and probably a few others). This gearbox would spin the "right" way so you have a useful bunch of foward gears (rather than a bunch of reverses), but obviously "spare" maserati gearboxes aren't readily available that I'm aware of. This would be the simplest option as all I'd need is an adapter plate to bolt up the rover motor

seeya,
Shane L.

What about a Renault 16TS motor.

Lovely engine and may spin the correct way as the layout is the same as the Citroen.
Regards PhilipA

I presume that same reversed gearbox was used in the Ciroen SM, but that won't help with availability either. Question though - would it be easier to redesign the differential section of the gearbox to put the pinion on the other side of the crown wheel?

And then there are other complications with putting the Rover engine in - If you remember, the Maserati engine in the SM needed special modifications to the front suspension cylinders and spheres. And that was for the narrow angle Maserati engine, not the 90 degree Rover V8.

Like Volkswagen,,just turn the diff over.
easy as.

Originally Posted by Modelsp

Like Volkswagen,,just turn the diff over.
easy as.

Actually, looking at the diagram I have, that might actually be possible - although I think the case clearance might be a bit close with the crown wheel on the other side. There may be issues with the gearbox turning backwards, for example with any threads that rely on direction not to undo. But these issues would be less than running a V-8 backwards.

In all honesty I would get a billet crank made to spec. cheapest and most straightforward solution to your problem and not difficult at all.

If you wanted to make it complicated you could change the throw and journal size, use different length rods and make a stroker.... not putting ideas in your head or anything.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Actually, looking at the diagram I have, that might actually be possible - although I think the case clearance might be a bit close with the crown wheel on the other side. There may be issues with the gearbox turning backwards, for example with any threads that rely on direction not to undo. But these issues would be less than running a V-8 backwards.

Like Fredd63 also said, turn the diff over..... In the VW Combi's with the reduction hubs, from the factory, the crown wheel was flipped over to make the axles run in reverse so the reduction hubs turned the wheels in the correct direction. The diff centre mounting was obviously symmetrical so the crown simply ended up on the other side of the pinion.

Not sure how the Citroens are set up but might be cheaper than reversing the engine, but perhaps not as much of a challenge.

People have also flipped the entire VW transaxles up side down to mid-mount engines in various cars. Oil pickup is still ok, but the engine is then set lower so your sump is close to the ground.

Someone else said something to the effect of; sometimes it's not about doing what is easy.... : )

Keep up posted on your decision and what you discover along the way.

The most straightforward would be to do as already suggested - find another engine, or, it is probably possible to find a new crankshaft (provided you have a reasonable ability in French).

But I don't think the the OP was looking for "straightforward", but rather "interesting".